Why We Should Stage Everything

Most folks don’t know that there is a connection between real estate and design, but those familiar with cityhomeCOLLECTIVE know that we don’t just know it–it’s our damn philosophy. For me, the idea of creating a real estate brokerage that also focused on design came about simply due to my desire to make a career out of combining the things I love: real estate, design, architecture, and amazing people.

It’s a little-known fact that real estate and design go hand-in-hand, in much the same way that design correlates directly with our senses. When people walk into a home–whether it’s for sale or not–most times they just innately want to touch things. This is something I’ve witnessed time and again while showing houses to buyers–they want to look with their eyes, their ears, and their hands. We’re tactile. We want to know what things are made of, how they feel. As a realtor, the idea of staging my listings started as something I did for fun (and for free) for my clients. I could give you the whole spiel about how a good staging affects all five senses, but I’ll give you the abridged version–what’s important is that you create a space with which people can visually and emotionally connect. I knew that making these little tweaks could vastly affect the way that people felt in the space, and that that feeling could greatly affect how quickly that home was sold.

We’re not tricking people; we’re simply creating a space for them to be aware of their own senses.

Over the years, the art of staging spaces has evolved for me. At cityhomeCOLLECTIVE, we have an entire department dedicated to staging. We use new pieces and pieces wrought with history from vintage shops (and, as always, support local whenever we can). We help folks create comfortable, intriguing, stellar spaces in their homes, and we aim to inspire the people that come through it to live their own lives with as much intention (and we love when we get calls asking where we got a lamp or what a certain shade of paint is called). Think of it like a sensory pop-up shop. Whether people spend 10 minutes or two hours inside one of our staged homes, they’re going to be blown away the whole time.

I actually can’t stand the term “staging”–it makes it seem like we’re creating an illusion here. We’re not tricking people; we’re simply creating a space for them to be aware of their own senses, and that’s 100% authentic. I’ve expressed in past blogs that I believe people should live in a home that they think is perfect even before they are ready to sell, but for some reason, people love to wait until they’re moving out to make their home what they want. Don’t wait until you’re ready to sell to stage your space. (Tip: style your home like you’re expecting a few close friends over for drinks–candles, music, a bottle of wine chilling.)

The little moments matter just as much–they’re what fills the time between the big stuff.

Every moment of your life is valid enough to live fabulously. So let’s stage it.

This isn’t staging. It’s simply living better. If you don’t think there are any pieces warranting a second look or touch in your home, call us up and we’ll find some for you. A staged breakfast or dinner party or moment isn’t synthetic if you’re actually living it, right? Life is filled with big moments (births, weddings, etc), but the little moments matter just as much–they’re what fills the time between the big stuff–so they might as well be amazing, too. I have breakfast with candles and music and my favorite flatware every morning, and not because I’m expecting company. I do it for myself (and partly because most mornings I’m up before the sun). So there’s no fanfare or crowd or Instagram posts about it (#putdownthephone)…it’s still a valid and fantastic memory. Every moment of your life is valid enough to live fabulously. So let’s stage it. And let’s come up with a better word than “stage”.

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